Fernando walked with Khan to the locker room in silence. He was still stunned at Lian and Skye's behavior earlier, and could tell that Khan was too embarrassed to speak; he wouldn't even look at Fernando. Things only got more awkward when they walked into the locker room and realized that they were the only two there. Both slowly walked to their lockers to get their gym clothes, hesitant to change. When he did so, Fernando felt exposed taking off his clothes in front of his crush. He faced away from Khan to hide his reddening face. Suddenly, he heard a noise and turned around. Khan had dropped his water bottle, making a loud noise and splashing water all over him. Fernando picked it up and gave it back to him, grinning to distract him from staring at Khan's glistening chest. He barely resisted his urge as he turned back to his locker to put his normal school clothes away. Fernando turned around to find Khan staring right at him.

"Yes?" Fernando asked. Silence.

"Khan?" He moved closer to the taller boy.

"W-what? Sorry, I spaced out," Khan replied, stuttering. His eyes quickly moved away from his friend.

"I know I'm a lot to take in, it's okay to stare." Fernando winked. Khan chuckled nervously, then drank some more water. Right after that, Buck, along with some other students, arrived.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Buck greeted. He was with a boy Fernando had never met. The boy had spiky white hair, silver eyes, and wore torn jeans with a muscle shirt.

"Nothing much. You?" Fernando asked.

"Just hung out with my friend here. Have you met him?"

"No, I don't think I have."

"I'm Koga," the boy cut in. He spoke in a harsh, intimidating tone.

"Nice to meet you." He and Buck walked to their lockers to get their clothes while Fernando and Khan continued to change. Koga turned to him and spoke.

"So, you're Fernando, right?" He grinned, then faced the boy.

"Yes. I'm not surprised you've heard of me, I'm a big deal." Khan gave Fernando a suspicious look.

"Oh, so you're a hot shot, I see," Koga continued, chuckling. He took off his shirt.

"You could say that," Fernando responded, facing a mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair and examined his face out of nervous habit.

"Gee, you must really love yourself."

"I'd say there's lots to love."

"I can see that." Is he flirting with me? Suddenly, Khan interrupted their conversation.

"What's your issue, dude?" he asked angrily, moving closer to the small boy.

"I should be asking you the same thing."

"Stop messing with him, it's not funny." Khan's eyes narrowed, but Koga remained smug.

"I'm not doing shit. Calm down."

Khan's face turned dark with frustration. "I know what you're trying to do."

The smaller boy paused, then smirked.

"Like hell you do, pretty boy."

Khan gasped, realization washing across his face. His face turned red, then he walked away, heading to the gym. What the hell? Fernando thought to himself as he turned to Koga.

"What was that all about?"
"Someone's a bit jealous," Koga commented, chuckling. Fernando raised an eyebrow

"I think he misunderstood our conversation," he continued.

"How so?"

"Let's just say you have something he wants." Koga finished changing into his gym clothes, then walked out of the locker room. Shortly after, Buck, who had just finished changing, commented on what he had just witnessed.

"What the hell was that all about?" Fernando shrugged.

"No sé. Let's go to class." Buck nodded, then the two walked to the gym, Fernando still confused about the exchange that had just occurred.

When class was over, all of the students rushed back to change into their normal clothes for the last class of the day. Fernando changed quickly and waited for Khan by the door. Usually, he would stay and chat, but he didn't want to risk being late to class today. After a couple of moments, Khan joined him. Fernando commented about his messy hair, and then they walked to math class together. They sat in their normal seats, and Khan got out a notebook. Fernando did the same and waited for the bell to ring. He decided to chat with the student next to him, a stoic and quiet boy named Strix.

"Hola, Strix," he greeted.

"Hello," the boy responded flatly.

"How's your day going?"

"Fine. You?"

"It's going great. I'm going to hang out with my friend today." Fernando smiled.

"Cool," he said, maintaining his neutral expression.

The bell rang. Barik walked to the front of the classroom, greeted the class, then gave a short review lecture on the contents for the test the next day. Fernando paid attention, but was still lost. He glanced over at Khan, who was listening to the teacher intently and copying down organized notes. Fernando's notes were incomprehensible. The teacher dismissed them to practice for the test. He sat in silence for a few moments, then sighed. What am I going to do?

"Fernando? Do you need some help?" Khan asked.

"Yes, a lot." Fernando chuckled nervously.

"Alright, what do you not understand?" He moved his desk closer to Fernando's.

"Uh, what's on the test tomorrow?" Khan laughed, which made Fernando feel awkward. Khan realized he wasn't joking, increasing the tension.

"Well, it's a unit test on the past couple of concepts. Logarithms and all of the conic sections will be on the test." Fernando gulped. He failed the conics test.

"Can you help me with conics?" He asked nervously.

"Of course, let's start with the simple stuff: the formulas." Khan turned to a page in his notebook that was marked with multiple formulas and color coded neatly. Then, he proceeded to explain every formula and the conic that matched with it. Fernando paid attention to everything he said and took notes. There was something about his friend that drew him to listen. He wanted to learn even more, now that he had a new teacher. After going over which equations went with which shape, Khan explained how to graph.

"Alright, when you graph, each number in the equation means something." Fernando nodded.

"The variable K is the vertical shift, H is the horizontal shift, C is the distance from the focus to the vertex, and A and B are the distances of the radii," he explained. Then, he drew some empty graphs on paper, gave some equations, and graphed them, explaining his process for each problem. After about five minutes of teaching, he let Fernando try. He was much better than before, but still not perfect. An accomplishment nonetheless. Once he felt comfortable with the skill, Khan moved onto logarithms.

"So remember, subtraction turns into division, and addition turns into multiplication." He pointed to a neat chart in his notes and continued to explain the material. Fernando didn't look at his notes, just at Khan. He's so focused… it's kind of cute, he thought to himself.

"Fernando?" Khan looked back at him.

"You there?" he asked. Fernando snapped out of his trance.

"Yeah, sorry." Fernando felt his face become warm. Khan raised an eyebrow, then continued to teach. Fernando managed to resist his urge to stare so he could absorb the information. He felt a sense of urgency for his grades that overpowered his childish crush. Khan used the same strategy as before; he showed him the method himself, then had Fernando practice it. It proved effective. Before he knew it, the bell rang, and it was time to leave school. Time to hang out with Khan. Fernando suddenly felt nervous, but took a deep breath.

As they walked out of the classroom, Khan started a conversation.

"So, you ready to hang out?" he asked.

"Yep," Fernando responded with a smile.

"What do you want to do, anyways?" Both fell silent as they walked out of the hallway and out to the front of the campus. They stopped.

"Whatever you want, amigo," Fernando answered. Khan sighed.

"I was hoping you knew what you wanted to do," he asked. To Fernando, Khan's submissive nature was odd since he was such an imposing and large person. You'd think someone who looked like that would be more of an alpha male. But not Khan.

"We could go and pick up lunch, and then go back to your place and do schoolwork," Fernando suggested.

"That sounds fun," Khan said, nodding. In reality, Fernando didn't care what they did. He was just happy to spend time with Khan. He hoped it was the same with Khan, since schoolwork and lunch sounded pretty boring.

"How about Magistrate Malts?"

"I don't like that place. Let's go somewhere else."

"Alright. How about Alberto's Tacos?"

"Never been."

Fernando gasped. "Wait, really? Well now we have to go."

"Alright, whatever you say," Khan said, smiling. Fernando led the way off the campus, Khan following close behind.

/

"That place is really good, I'll definitely return," Khan commented, as the two walked in the neighborhood.

"Yeah, I've been going there since I was a niño." Fernando added. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. Fernando stared into the distance as he followed Khan to his house. He realized that they had to go to practice later, since they had a football game the next day. After that, there was an away game. Next friday was a day off, since it was going to be Halloween. He thought that making the most of the time he had with Khan right now by chatting was a good idea.

"You excited for tomorrow's game?" he asked.

"Yeah, I hope we win," the man responded.

"I believe in us. With strong men like us, and a great leader like you, our team will beat the rest!" Khan smiled.

"I'm glad you're confident in the team. And in my leadership."

"Who else could be the team captain?" Khan looked down and tried to hide a smile. Fernando's face turned red. He's so cute when he's flattered, he thought to himself.

"So, you want to stay until we have to go to practice?" Khan asked, changing the subject.

"Está bien. We'll need to stop by my apartment on the way back to school, though," he added. Khan nodded.

"We're here." He turned and walked up a pathway to the door of his house. It was a cute place, a traditional family home. Two stories, lots of room. Fernando wished he lived in a big house. Khan unlocked the door and walked in, Fernando following behind. He scanned the room, noting its cleanliness and simple decorations. Everything looked like it was in its right place. Khan walked up the stairs, which were off to the side. He opened the door to his room and walked in, plopping his bag on the floor. Fernando did the same.

"This is my room," Khan said. Fernando nodded. Everything was organized. His sports equipment leaned against a wall next to a desk with a pen holder and a small lamp. His bed was simple, dark red covers with a couple of pillows. Books were stacked on a shelf, and a mirror hung above his dresser. The drawer was slightly ajar, revealing that all of his clothes were neatly folded.

"Dios mio, your room is neat. How much time do you spend cleaning it?" he commented.

"Well, not too much, I just like my things to be organized," Khan responded, adding an awkward chuckle.

"I wish I had the motivation to clean my room like you do. That place is a mess." Khan sat on his bed and looked at Fernando.

"Do you want to work on something for school?" he asked, changing the subject again. He never liked to talk about himself.

"You said you wanted to work on the art."

"We have time to work on it tomorrow, let's do something else."
"Let's study for the math test," Fernando suggested. Khan nodded, then got up to get out supplies. Fernando sat in a chair next to a lamp and a table in the corner of the room and watched him. After he found everything he needed, he sat down on the floor. Then, he patted the space next to him.

"You want to study on the floor?" Fernando asked, warranting a nod from Khan. Fernando sat down next to him. "I got the textbook, my notes, lots of paper, and the review packet from earlier this week," Khan said, putting down each item on the floor as he listed them, "We're going to do a ton of practice problems."

"Sounds good to me."

"Let's start with logarithms," he wrote down a problem from the textbook on a piece of paper, "Solve for X." Fernando remembered his practice, and got what he thought was the right answer.

"You did well, except you switched the rules. Remember, if the two are being added, you can combine them and multiply the terms inside of the logarithm. You did it the other way around," Khan explained, correcting his error in red pen. Then, he wrote another problem. Khan smiled when he checked the answer in the book and realized that Fernando's matched. Fernando changed position to lay on his stomach, while Khan leaned against the bed. He kept giving Fernando logarithm problems until they were easy as simple addition. Then, he switched to problems about conic sections. After a couple of graphing problems, he checked on Fernando's progress.

"Are you confident in this skill now?" Khan asked.

"Yes, gracias." Fernando said. Khan nodded, and then started to turn to another page. Fernando decided to make small talk during the break.

"How are you and Lian doing?" he asked. Khan's face turned red.

"Good." He answered slowly with insecurity in his tone. Fernando nodded.

"You guys doing anything special this weekend?" He didn't really want to know, but just wanted to be nice. It hurt to talk about it, but he realized that his friendship with Khan wouldn't progress if he never accepted the truth.

"I don't know yet. She'll probably come storming over on noon Saturday demanding we go to the beach or something," Khan answered, disinterested. Fernando raised his eyebrows.

"Why don't you get to choose?" Silence. Fernando got that suspicious feeling again, that something was wrong.

"She… doesn't let me."

"You should talk to her about it. You're her boyfriend, not her pet." Khan looked up and into Fernando's eyes. Usually, there was a slight shimmer to his golden irises, but Fernando noticed it was gone.

"I can't." There was a pause.

"Why not?"

"I just can't, okay Fernando?" Khan was close to shouting. His eyes darted back down to his paper. Fernando though he saw him cry. He sat up and moved closer to his friend, then put his hand on one side of his head against the bed. Using his other hand, he moved Khan's chin up so that their eyes met.

"You deserve better than that. You know it. Don't let her do this to you," he reassured. Khan's eyes were wet and his face was red. He wouldn't look him in the eyes. Suddenly, Fernando realized the position he was in. His face turned hot as he darted back to his place on the floor. He fumbled to move his paper in front of him, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"You're right." Fernando looked up to see Khan staring at the wall, a tear running down his cheek. "How did this happen to me? My relationship is already crumbling. I'm such a failure." Fernando frowned, then sat up and locked eyes with Khan.

"This isn't your fault. She's clearly unsatisfied with herself, Khan. She's taking it out on you."

"Do I not love her enough?"

Fernando paused, then moved closer to Khan.

"You do exactly what she wants."

"I still feel like I'm doing something wrong."

He looked away. Their knees touched.

"You can fix this, I know you can. And if you can't, don't stress about it."

Fernando placed his hands on the other man's shoulders.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you, out of all people, can't fix this, nobody can. You know her the best."

There was a pause. Then, Khan lunged forward, wrapped Fernando in his arms, and stood up, taking both into an upright position. Fernando was surprised by this, and let out a quiet yelp. His feet hovered above the ground briefly, but then the larger man put him down, keeping his arms around his shoulders. Khan moved his face to the side of Fernando's head, then whispered in his ear.

"Thank you."

It was a good thing Khan couldn't see his face, because Fernando blushed furiously. His face was still red when Khan let go of him. He was stunned by the sudden intimate moment. He stared up at Khan. That shimmer had returned to his eyes, and his face was red too. Then, the taller man returned his gaze. Both looked at each other for a few moments, then burst out laughing. Fernando tried to hide his embarrassment and nervousness behind the laughter. Khan's laugh sent a warm feeling through his body. After a good laugh, both sat down to return to studying. Khan started to give Fernando more review problems for conic sections, but neither could focus at that point. Fernando was lost in thought about Khan. How good it felt to console him. To be with him. To make him laugh. Dios mio, how am I going to study like this?